LE LION
Theatrical release: January 19, 2020
Duration: 1h35
Director: Ludovic Colbeau-Justin
Main actors: Dany Boon, Philippe Katerine, Anne Serra
Synopsis: To help him find his missing fiancée, Romain, a doctor in a psychiatric hospital, has no choice but to escape one of his patients Léo Milan, who claims to be a secret agent...
But Romain is not entirely sure he made the right choice. Is Léo, known as “the Lion”, really a secret agent or just a big myth?
Little surprise that arrived in theaters recently, The Lion. Film starring Danny Boon playing the title role of a supposed secret agent. I say supposed because we realize that at the beginning of the film he is followed by a psychiatrist who doubts the sincerity of his patient. Psychiatrist who is played here by Philippe Katerine
Seeing the trailer, I sensed something nice and that I wanted to see with this question in mind: Is Léo Milan really a secret agent or not?
But I still had one question that could dampen my joy: Philippe Katerine. I assumed the worst after seeing Gaz De France, the only film I had seen in which he plays (I haven't seen Le Grand Bain yet). This single cinema experience did not leave me with good memories of the actor.
About The Lion, I didn't know much, and I expected to see a film taking place largely in a hospital where a psychiatrist tries to untangle the truth from the lies about his patient with possibly a car chase to try to catch Leo Milan having escaped from the hospital and being considered dangerous. But that's not exactly what happened.
The film begins with an action-packed, well-paced sequence that makes our mouths water. That's it, we believe it, the French James Bond is there in front of us, with a Danny Boon in top form. But the rest of the film is not of the same caliber. Starting with Danny Boon himself, who after 15 minutes of film, comes out with jokes and expressions straight out of his sketches and his chti accent that comes to the surface at times. Which discredits his character and answers our question much too early: no, Léo Milan is not a secret agent. Too bad, because for my part, I would have liked to doubt him for a good half of the film, which would have had the merit of being interesting.
In addition, the passage in the hospital is short, but to better serve us and visit various places. And fortunately, because if in my first idea, the film had to take place almost entirely in the hospital, the film would have been very bland. It is in this sense that it redeems itself a little. Because the Boon / Katerine acting duo does not work and it is a little shaky. Boon pulls the blanket towards him and Katerine is disappointing. As I said above, Philippe Katerine does not leave me hot or cold, I could not be surprised by his “soft” and flat acting.
Humor: I only laughed on very rare occasions, letting out a smile from time to time. Situations that would make the audience laugh are poorly placed.
The film is still watchable, it's good entertainment, but don't expect the best film with Danny Boon.
